Of course, all of us here in Detroit know what would make the most sense would be to finally move the Wings to the Eastern Conference.

Of course we all understand the competitive imbalance that the Wings have had to endure. The west coast trips and late start times force them to alter their daily schedule more than every other championship-caliber team. That would change with a transfer to the East.

Simple, right?

Maybe it is just the pessimist in me, but I can't help but focus on the ways that the Red Wings will not end up where we want them.

If the League wanted to make the change with the least mess, they would move Nashville to the Southeast. Geographically, that makes the most sense, rather than transferring a team like Pittsburgh into that division. In this scenario Winnipeg would be in the the Northwest, and Minnesota would shift into the Central Division.

So no Red Wings in the East.

Another possibility that has me worried is lobbying by the other Western Conference teams to not lose the Wings. Having Detroit visit is a veritable gold mine for other teams. They have fans everywhere, and sell out every arena. The Wings are like Def Leppard circa 1989, just with fewer Union Jack t-shirts. Oddly enough, there is the same number of torn blue jeans in the crowd.

Anyway, I worry that the NHL would not want to strand Chicago as the only Original Six team in the West. That leaves the Columbus Blue Jackets as the only other Western Conference team in the Eastern Time Zone. If the League wants to retain the integrity of the Detroit-Chicago rivalry, then it would be Columbus switching conferences.

So no Red Wings in the East.

The last possibility is a complete overhaul and realignment by the NHL. There is even some talk (as mentioned in Ansar's article) that they might throw out the entire East-West thing and break the teams down into a North-South alignment. They would separate the teams so that each conference would have franchises in each time zone, ensuring that everyone would have similar travel schedules. What that would mean for us in Detroit is that there would still be west coast trips, and we would still have to stay up until 1:30 in the morning to enjoy some games.

So no Red Wings in the East, because there would no longer be an East.

There is plenty of time for all the speculation because next season's schedule is essentially already set. That means any realignment wouldn't happen until the 2012-2013 season.

Unfortunately, that just leaves me a lot more time to worry about the Red Wings and all of here in Detroit getting screwed.